Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) continue to have inherent thermal limitations that severely affect their performance in large battery packs. Large battery packs can consist of tens to thousands of individual cells, all of which generate heat during normal operation. If not properly managed, this heat can cause significant capacity degradation, and, in some cases, the temperature of the cell can trigger thermal runaway. This can increase the temperature of neighboring cells and cause thermal runaway to be triggered. As a result, these packs require a sophisticated thermal management system (TMS). The state-of-the-art TMS provide significant external liquid cooling to each cell within the pack, such as the one seen in the Chevrolet Volt. However, LIB have inherently low thermal conductivity which leads to high temperature gradients through the thickness of the cell. Unfortunately, no commercial TMS is capable of directly managing the internal cell temperature, and, despite significant optimization efforts underway, these TMS still account for a significant percentage of the total pack weight and volume. Accordingly, a practical thermal management system that can provide internal cooling to an electrochemical cell to avoid the overheating problems inherent with current battery technologies would be a benefit to many devices that depend renewable energy.